Vanity is so constantly solicitous of self, that even where its own claims are not interested, it indirectly seeks the aliment which it loves, by showing how little is deserved by others.

Better that we should err in action than wholly refuse to perform. The storm is so much better than the calm, as it declares the presence of a living principle. Stagnation is something worse than death. It is corruption also.

The birth of a child is the imprisonment of a soul.

He who would acquire fame must not show himself afraid of censure. The dread of censure is the death of genius.

Our true acquisitions lie only in our charities - we gain only as we give.

The true law of the race is progress and development. Whenever civilization pauses in the march of conquest, it is overthrown by the barbarian.

No doubt solitude is wholesome, but so is abstinence after a surfeit. The true life of man is in society.